How SMBs Get Ahead of Cyber Threats

Holistic Cybersecurity

By Mike Fitzpatrick, CEO of NCX Group

Mike Fitzpatrick

Year after year, research shows that businesses continue to struggle with holistic cybersecurity and basic cybersecurity hygiene. The reasons for this struggle involve a number of things such as: the cybersecurity skills gap, CEOs thinking they don’t have anything that cyber criminals would want, and budget limitations.

As threats evolve, so should a cybersecurity posture and while the CIO may attempt to do this within the organization they are working with; when you have a shortage of expert security professionals or budget limitations here lie the first two problems. This is why a holistic cybersecurity posture is so important to adopt from the beginning. However, not all organizations do this, for the same reasons they struggle to stay up with cyber threats.

A CIO can do this if they have the means to speak freely within the organization, if they hold a seat in the boardroom, and if they hold the necessary resources to conduct such an evaluation. Since this isn’t always the case, outside consultation with cybersecurity organizations such as NCX Group, is a fundamental component to moving forward.

While CEOs, or even CIOs, may object to this need, the repeat pattern of challenges businesses continue to face throughout the years with basic cybersecurity hygiene is proof enough of a need to consult with someone who specializes in holistic cybersecurity.

Even though there are many organizations offering cybersecurity solutions, these solutions aren’t always holistic in nature. Many solutions address specific cybersecurity areas or threats such as ransomware or password management, or how to meet compliance regulations.

As long as businesses continue to address cybersecurity this way, it is like patching your systems one piece at a time. This type of cybersecurity is what keeps organizations patching away, seeing as threats continue to find ways around those patches; and therefore, bring about a continuous need to readdress the same cybersecurity areas and threats over and over again.

Once you know where you stand with holistic cybersecurity, you find out what steps you need to take to achieve at the very least those basic cybersecurity hygiene components. With those steps in the forefront, organizations are able to make a plan and implement it in a way that doesn’t cause problems or stress with the budget at hand (since the plan can be set up to take place over time according to budget availability).

The longer businesses wait to get started with holistic cybersecurity, the longer they stay vulnerable without really knowing what they are vulnerable to, how they are vulnerable, or what to expect from the risks they face.

On the other hand, if organizations know where they stand with a holistic posture and basic cybersecurity hygiene, at least they gain knowledge of where they stand with insecurity and what they can do to get out of that situation (even if they’re not ready to move forward with the next steps yet).

If you’re ready to talk about holistic cybersecurity or basic cybersecurity hygiene for your organization give us a call.